Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feeding and water temps?????????

We had another cold front come thru last night, but this last weekend my water was at 69 degrees at one foot deep and 68 @ 2'. I would have thought the water would have been colder...

Brian, mine was still 74.5 this morning at 8am. But the cold front has hit here now. I will check this evening. They fed really well this morning!!

I need to check feeder, but guessing it will be out or dang close. I will probably wait till next year to buy more feed.

Low of 19 degrees here this morning but it did warm up to 50 degrees this afternoon. Water temp two days ago was 45 degrees, it will be at least mid April before things have warmed up enough to start feeding again.

With the warm temps, mine have been feeding well for the past few days until today. It was cold and windy, so feeding slowed down again. I think I have enough feed to finish the season.

Mine was surface temps 63 yesterday morning and with the colder rain and nights this week I shut down the diffusers at 9pm to 4am. Not sure it will change much but thought I would see.

Front came through. Air 49, surface water temp at 8am this morning was even 70 degrees. Almost 5 degrees cooler than yesterday at this same time. Still have feeder and aeriation going full blast. Water clarity getting better every day. Visibility now at about 15 inch on sechi dish. Fish fed like crazy still!!

I got a bag of Purina Catfish Chow SR today (sinking). Hopefully, I can effectively feed a couple of weeks more, and start earlier next spring. I could see fish picking it up off the bottom after I threw out a few handfuls this afternoon.

I did not check the water temp today, but last I checked it was 51 and my fish are still feeding well. Not as aggressive as a month ago, but they still follow me around the pond when I drive the 4 wheeler, them wanting to be fed.

I will keep feeding as long as the fish act like they want to eat. I have backed off the amount some and try to spread it out to two feedings rather than all at once.

We have some nicer weather, more sun and warmer temperatures in the forecast so I think feeding will continue here for a while.

BG are hitting the chartreuse Gulp Alive waxies great. It was "fish on" late afternoon with 9 out of ten casts hooking up. 19 more BG in the holding pen waiting to be filleted and several nice males that I returned to the water. Couple of GSF also. Pics are from last night and tonight. Most of the GSF I take out but I did return the largest one to see if I can raise a trophy GSF.

Water temp 8am this morning was still holding 67. Fed good but slower than a week ago. Taking about 2-3 times as long to eat the same amount of food.Water Has been in the mid 60's for a full week now. Visibility getting better each day. Now at about 18 inch on sechi dish.

I am glad the waxies are working out well for you. I have found them to be the best BG bait I have ever used, and can catch more BG in a given time frame than even red worms when used to tip a tiny jig.

The fish prefer the white over the chartreuse ones at my place. And will catch the 6 to 8" cnbg one after the other but the larger cnbg, I think they have learned not to bite those baits like they used to. I know the larger sized are still there with the smaller ones because I see them when feeding. just a little tougher to get them to bite. Educated fish I think!

I may have to give those waxies a try next year. How do you guys fish them? Small jig head I know but under a cork or just toss them out and bounce the bottom or ....?

I do different than John F and I'll let him tell about his Mr Crappie pole.

I usually use a 1/64 or 1/32 oz jig type hook. I like them because I get less deep hooked fish than I do with regular hooks. I occasionally will use a bobber but usually just cast it out and bounce it off the bottom as I do a stop and go retrieve.

Right now I am using a casting bubble like Shorty uses. I like it because it gives me plenty of weight to cast anywhere I want because the light weight jig heads by themselves don't cast very far.

If the bite gets tough I will just go with a straight jig head with no swivel or anything. But if they are biting good the casting bubble gives me lots more options because of the added casting distance and its ability to bounce the jig off the bottom instead of dragging it along. If they are biting really good I can just cast and retrieve with the casting bubble making a wake ahead of the bait trailing 18" behind. The wake of the bubble will alert the fish then they get the bait behind it. But if the fish are spooky and don't want to bite that seems to be too much action and scares them away. Then I go with a quieter approach with just the jig head tied directly or letting the jig drop down below the casting bubble in a stop and go.

In the past I have had real good luck with the smallest size crank baits for catching BG. Bass pattern works good. But this year I have about exclusively used a jig head tipped with a small bait. I like the Gulp Waxies in both chartreuse and white. I have some pink Gulp maggots that also work good but they do not stay on the hook nearly as well as the waxies. They seem to be made of a softer foam. I also use just a small pinch of the Gulp imitation worms. Sometimes they will work if I am not getting the bites I want with the waxies. I also use various small bits of plastic worm or whatever I find in the tackle box. If the BG are biting, it does not make a lot of difference. If the bite is tougher then I have to experiment, but the Gulp waxies are hard to beat. I can often catch ten fish before I loose the bait and have to replace it. When I used to use real worms it was re-bait the hook almost every cast.

The Gulp Alive waxies are not carried locally. I have to order them on line. Wally world caries several of the gulp products, but not the waxies.

Thanks John!

I'll explain how I fish for BG in the fishing sub forum on a new topic.